{"id":2144,"date":"2019-01-21T15:20:02","date_gmt":"2019-01-21T15:20:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/?p=2144"},"modified":"2019-01-21T15:20:07","modified_gmt":"2019-01-21T15:20:07","slug":"whatsapp-restricts-message-sharing-to-fight-fake-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/21\/whatsapp-restricts-message-sharing-to-fight-fake-news\/","title":{"rendered":"WhatsApp restricts message-sharing to fight fake news"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WhatsApp is limiting all its members to forwarding any single message\n up to five times in an effort to tackle the spread of false information\n on the platform. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Facebook-owned business had already introduced the policy in India<\/a> six months ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The move followed a number of mob lynchings that were blamed on fake reports spread via the service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until now, users elsewhere could forward messages up to 20 times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The update to the app’s rules was announced at an event in Jakarta, \nIndonesia. The country is holding its general election in April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The firm told the BBC it had made its decision after “carefully” \nevaluating the results of its half-year-long test in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The forward limit significantly reduced forwarded messages around the world,” a spokeswoman added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“[This] will help keep WhatsApp focused on private messaging with \nclose contacts. We’ll continue to listen to user feedback about their \nexperience, and over time, look for new ways of addressing viral \ncontent.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scrambled messages<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Up to 256 users can be enrolled<\/a> in a WhatsApp group. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, theoretically, a single user can now only forward a message up to\n 1,280 other individuals rather than the 5,120 people figure that had \nbeen possible previously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is nothing, however, to stop those on the receiving end each forwarding the message up to five times themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The restriction comes at a time WhatsApp and Facebook’s other \nservices are under scrutiny for their role in the spread of propaganda \nand other untruths online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, Facebook announced it had removed 500 pages and accounts \nallegedly involved in peddling fake news in Central Europe, Ukraine and \nother Eastern European nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also recently announced that it had employed a UK-fact-checking service to flag content on its main platform<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the use of end-to-end encryption by WhatsApp means its \nmessages can only be read by their senders and recipients, limiting the \nfirm’s ability to spot false reports. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But at the end of last year,\u00a0the Indian press reported that the government<\/a>\u00a0was considering a change to the law that would force Facebook to police WhatsApp for “unlawful” content. This would challenge its use of encryption technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

credit: BBC<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WhatsApp is limiting all its members to forwarding any single message up to five times in an effort to tackle the spread of false information […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2145,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,16],"tags":[446],"class_list":["post-2144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","category-news","tag-technology"],"yoast_head":"\nWhatsApp restricts message-sharing to fight fake news - Apt News Ghana<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The move followed a number of mob lynchings that were blamed on fake reports spread via the service.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/21\/whatsapp-restricts-message-sharing-to-fight-fake-news\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"WhatsApp restricts message-sharing to fight fake news - Apt News Ghana\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The move followed a number of mob lynchings that were blamed on fake reports spread via the service.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/21\/whatsapp-restricts-message-sharing-to-fight-fake-news\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Apt News Ghana\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-01-21T15:20:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-01-21T15:20:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/whatsaapp.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"360\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/21\/whatsapp-restricts-message-sharing-to-fight-fake-news\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/21\/whatsapp-restricts-message-sharing-to-fight-fake-news\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Editor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/#\/schema\/person\/26a4fa2e1ccac2c31f11b3186d0240fa\"},\"headline\":\"WhatsApp restricts message-sharing to fight fake news\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-01-21T15:20:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-01-21T15:20:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/21\/whatsapp-restricts-message-sharing-to-fight-fake-news\/\"},\"wordCount\":369,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Technology\"],\"articleSection\":[\"International\",\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/21\/whatsapp-restricts-message-sharing-to-fight-fake-news\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/21\/whatsapp-restricts-message-sharing-to-fight-fake-news\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/21\/whatsapp-restricts-message-sharing-to-fight-fake-news\/\",\"name\":\"WhatsApp restricts message-sharing to fight fake news - Apt News Ghana\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-01-21T15:20:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-01-21T15:20:07+00:00\",\"description\":\"The move followed a number of mob lynchings that were blamed on fake reports spread via the service.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/21\/whatsapp-restricts-message-sharing-to-fight-fake-news\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/21\/whatsapp-restricts-message-sharing-to-fight-fake-news\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/21\/whatsapp-restricts-message-sharing-to-fight-fake-news\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"WhatsApp restricts message-sharing to fight fake news\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/\",\"name\":\"Apt News Ghana\",\"description\":\"Your Coverage\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Apt News Ghana\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/aptnewsghana-logo-1-e1546185192805.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/aptnewsghana-logo-1-e1546185192805.png\",\"width\":320,\"height\":107,\"caption\":\"Apt News Ghana\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/#\/schema\/person\/26a4fa2e1ccac2c31f11b3186d0240fa\",\"name\":\"Editor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bf711d428bc8613649773651afe632ce7b73d253d98f0e9ed26da056197e99b5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bf711d428bc8613649773651afe632ce7b73d253d98f0e9ed26da056197e99b5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Editor\"},\"description\":\"Joe Bright Nyarko Journalist\/Communication Researcher. Environment & Sustainability Advocate. Managing Editor of aptnewsghana.com, a non-profit news portal with bias towards environment and sustainability issues, rural development policies and gender & inequality.\",\"sameAs\":[\"Joe Bright\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/index.php\/author\/aptnewsghana_dm662qsx\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"WhatsApp restricts message-sharing to fight fake news - Apt News Ghana","description":"The move followed a number of mob lynchings that were blamed on fake reports spread via the service.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/21\/whatsapp-restricts-message-sharing-to-fight-fake-news\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"WhatsApp restricts message-sharing to fight fake news - Apt News Ghana","og_description":"The move followed a number of mob lynchings that were blamed on fake reports spread via the service.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/21\/whatsapp-restricts-message-sharing-to-fight-fake-news\/","og_site_name":"Apt News Ghana","article_published_time":"2019-01-21T15:20:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-01-21T15:20:07+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":360,"url":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/whatsaapp.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Editor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Editor","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/21\/whatsapp-restricts-message-sharing-to-fight-fake-news\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/21\/whatsapp-restricts-message-sharing-to-fight-fake-news\/"},"author":{"name":"Editor","@id":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/#\/schema\/person\/26a4fa2e1ccac2c31f11b3186d0240fa"},"headline":"WhatsApp restricts message-sharing to fight fake news","datePublished":"2019-01-21T15:20:02+00:00","dateModified":"2019-01-21T15:20:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/21\/whatsapp-restricts-message-sharing-to-fight-fake-news\/"},"wordCount":369,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/#organization"},"keywords":["Technology"],"articleSection":["International","News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/21\/whatsapp-restricts-message-sharing-to-fight-fake-news\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/21\/whatsapp-restricts-message-sharing-to-fight-fake-news\/","url":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/21\/whatsapp-restricts-message-sharing-to-fight-fake-news\/","name":"WhatsApp restricts message-sharing to fight fake news - Apt News Ghana","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-01-21T15:20:02+00:00","dateModified":"2019-01-21T15:20:07+00:00","description":"The move followed a number of mob lynchings that were blamed on fake reports spread via the service.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/21\/whatsapp-restricts-message-sharing-to-fight-fake-news\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/21\/whatsapp-restricts-message-sharing-to-fight-fake-news\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/21\/whatsapp-restricts-message-sharing-to-fight-fake-news\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"WhatsApp restricts message-sharing to fight fake news"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/","name":"Apt News Ghana","description":"Your Coverage","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/#organization","name":"Apt News Ghana","url":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/aptnewsghana-logo-1-e1546185192805.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/aptnewsghana-logo-1-e1546185192805.png","width":320,"height":107,"caption":"Apt News Ghana"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/#\/schema\/person\/26a4fa2e1ccac2c31f11b3186d0240fa","name":"Editor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bf711d428bc8613649773651afe632ce7b73d253d98f0e9ed26da056197e99b5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bf711d428bc8613649773651afe632ce7b73d253d98f0e9ed26da056197e99b5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Editor"},"description":"Joe Bright Nyarko Journalist\/Communication Researcher. Environment & Sustainability Advocate. Managing Editor of aptnewsghana.com, a non-profit news portal with bias towards environment and sustainability issues, rural development policies and gender & inequality.","sameAs":["Joe Bright"],"url":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/index.php\/author\/aptnewsghana_dm662qsx\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/whatsaapp.jpg","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9MOQw-yA","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2144"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2146,"href":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2144\/revisions\/2146"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}